Our Poll Position question this week pivots off the last contest, and asks:
Discussion to follow ... if you dare!
Now, I'm going against my better judgment and allowing you to submit other possible answers. I'll yank that if you all can't handle that maturely. With great power and all that. Now, onward!
Amazing Man: Amazing Man had that "Golden Age Power Inflation Syndrome" in the worst way. He could do everything from turning into a green mist to flying to super strength to holding up a giant metal chest plate using only his super nipples. Like most heroes of the era, he didn't have a problem slaughtering enemies when called upon, and he even had a sporty sidekick. Nowadays super heroes tend to be much more specialized, focusing their powers into just a couple of major areas, so on one hand it'd be refreshing to have an old-school "Everything and the kitchen sink" kind of guy around, but on the other, he's fairly ridiculous.- The Black Terror: I know this has happened relatively recently, but would you like to see him come back permanently?
- Bulletman: Who wouldn't love a guy in jodhpurs who gets flung around by his head smash through walls, criminals, and locomotives on a daily basis? Throw in Bulletgirl and Bulletdog and I'm definitely in.
- The Fighting Yank: Looking like the old New England Patriots helmet logo, The Fighting Yank would have a hard time fitting in these days, with his tri-corner hat and colonial duds. Considering he also is overseen by the almighty spirit of his dead Founding Father ancestor and the creepiness factor just goes through the roof. On the other hand, it'd be kind of fun to see how the old dead guy would react to the vagaries of modern culture. "Gadzooks, they let women vote now?!"
- Green Lama: Again, this has been attempted recently, but don't let that sway you.
- Golden Lad: If you remember Golden Lad, he's the one who runs around in gold scale shorts and a cape. He's one of the few child characters who was also a full-fledged hero on his own, not just a sidekick for some other older fellow. Having said that, I don't think the gold scale shorts would cut it in today's world. That's just wrong on an underage boy.
- The Human Bomb: I'd love to see the concept of a guy who blows up anything he touches with his bare hands treated with a modern, realistic sensibility.
- Mighty Midget: The idea of a super powered little person who isn't actually super powered is very funny to me. I think today we would just consider him insane. "No, really, I'm mighty, I swear! Look at this needle I'm swinging, man!"
- Nature Boy: A weak-tea Captain Marvel for the Fifties, the most interesting part of this character was how involved the ancient gods were in his day to day life. Take a modern teen and uber-intrusive and judgmental divinities peeping on him constantly and I think we'd have quite the interesting comic.
- Skyman: This would be fun mostly to see him trying to pilot his prop plane in and out of modern airline hubs. "Curses, the criminal got away because a mechanic at O'Hare lost his lug nuts!"
Amazing Man: Amazing Man had that "Golden Age Power Inflation Syndrome" in the worst way. He could do everything from turning into a green mist to flying to super strength to holding up a giant metal chest plate using only his super nipples. Like most heroes of the era, he didn't have a problem slaughtering enemies when called upon, and he even had a sporty sidekick. Nowadays super heroes tend to be much more specialized, focusing their powers into just a couple of major areas, so on one hand it'd be refreshing to have an old-school "Everything and the kitchen sink" kind of guy around, but on the other, he's fairly ridiculous.
The Black Terror: I know this has happened relatively recently, but would you like to see him come back permanently?
Bulletman: Who wouldn't love a guy in jodhpurs who gets flung around by his head smash through walls, criminals, and locomotives on a daily basis? Throw in Bulletgirl and Bulletdog and I'm definitely in.
The Fighting Yank: Looking like the old New England Patriots helmet logo, The Fighting Yank would have a hard time fitting in these days, with his tri-corner hat and colonial duds. Considering he also is overseen by the almighty spirit of his dead Founding Father ancestor and the creepiness factor just goes through the roof. On the other hand, it'd be kind of fun to see how the old dead guy would react to the vagaries of modern culture. "Gadzooks, they let women vote now?!" 
Green Lama: Again, this has been attempted recently, but don't let that sway you.
Golden Lad: If you remember Golden Lad, he's the one who runs around in gold scale shorts and a cape. He's one of the few child characters who was also a full-fledged hero on his own, not just a sidekick for some other older fellow. Having said that, I don't think the gold scale shorts would cut it in today's world. That's just wrong on an underage boy.
The Human Bomb: I'd love to see the concept of a guy who blows up anything he touches with his bare hands treated with a modern, realistic sensibility.
Mighty Midget: The idea of a super powered little person who isn't actually super powered is very funny to me. I think today we would just consider him insane. "No, really, I'm mighty, I swear! Look at this needle I'm swinging, man!"
Nature Boy: A weak-tea Captain Marvel for the Fifties, the most interesting part of this character was how involved the ancient gods were in his day to day life. Take a modern teen and uber-intrusive and judgmental divinities peeping on him constantly and I think we'd have quite the interesting comic.
Skyman: This would be fun mostly to see him trying to pilot his prop plane in and out of modern airline hubs. "Curses, the criminal got away because a mechanic at O'Hare lost his lug nuts!"I tried to list only guys who I've featured a time or two on the site, but don't feel bad if you don't recognize them -- they're used to that after fifty years of obscurity. I think I'd probably pick Nature Boy for a funny, sarcastic comic, and The Human Bomb for something more realistic. I mean, as realistic as you can get from a guy who gets blown up and walks away with explosive hands as the only effect can be.
Who would you like to read about, and why?
I think Bulletman has a modern incarnation too.
For any REAL Heromachine enthusiast, the answer can only be Bulletman. Period.
I’m voting Mighty Midget, just because I think it would be interesting to see how our much more politically correct modern comics would deal with him…
@Jeff: I tried to add Crime Crusader to the list but the little dot wouldn’t appear in the circle next to his name. What’s wrong?
Interesting, I hadn’t noticed before, how Bulletman and Bulletgirl have their helmets pointed away from the direction they are flying. If they flew really fast, wouldn’t air drag snap their necks?
BulletMan for the win!
I had only heard of Bulletman and Bulletgirl because of HM, so I don’t really know. I think it would be interesting if we had a more politically correct version of Mighty Midget in today’s comics. It would be pretty cool to have a super powered little person (I’m assuming the character would get some kind of power). I just hope that they would make him into a real character and avoid using the character’s height as a gimmick.
Well, I WOULD have gone for Bulletman, and then I remembered what they did to the reincarnation of bulletgirl(http://www.heromachine.com/2010/04/28/bulletwrong/). So, Uhm, I had to go with the Black Terror. Besides, he’s got a jolly roger on his uniform which means…. PIRATES!!! and Pirates are cool, right? 🙂
I chose Mighty Midget for one, simple reason: I’m a little person & I gotta support my peeps, yo! (Note to self: you’re white, STOP IT!)
Seriously, though, in all of comicdom (is that a word?) there’s only been two little people (LP) superheroes: Mighty Midget (who I had never heard of, until today) & Puck of the X-Men (no, I don’t count Ant-Man, the Atom, or Wasp Woman).
Puck was twice as strong as an average-sized person, could bounce off walls, roll himself up into a ball, and launch himself at people, knocking them down.
Mighty Midget, apparently, didn’t have superpowers at all!
An LP superhero (that you could believe in) is looong overdue. As a matter of fact, I think making a LP superhero should be a Character Contest. Who’s with me?
P.S. Puck was also Australian.
Adam, actually Mighty Midget wasn’t a midget or technically a “little person” in the way we use the term today. He looked just like an average sized person proportionally, but was shrunk down to the size of a doll — he could ride in toy airplanes, he fought rats and weasels, that kind of thing.
I don’t think they ever said WHY he was that way, he just was. And just happened to find a woman of exactly the same proportions. I don’t think either one of them had super powers, although as the series went on I want to say they could jump really high and punch hard, probably something like “the proportional strength of a not-doll-sized-person”.
Puck, unfortunately, pretty much remains the sole standard bearer for true Little People.
Wow, that’s sad. Thanks for the reply & the extra info on Mighty “Midget”.
Does this help?
Rob Liefield’s Troll
Probably not.
I’m with Adam B on the LP superhero character contest idea. And I agree with Jake that the character’s size should not be his/her gimmick. In fact, extra points if the character also is of African heritage but without the word Black in his name.
By the way, has Mighty Midget really got that housecat in a Full Nelson? That’s just wrong.
Troll looks nothing more than an older, shorter version of Wolverine, minus the claws. Pitiful. lol.
According to the Biology of B-Movie Monsters (http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/2/21701757/), which I have no reason to doubt because MATHS!, a shrunk-down human would be stronger than you’d expect. Still kind of boring to read about, to my mind, but how many millions did Honey I Shrunk the Kids make?
I want to thank you X-stacy for that link to the Biology of B-Movie Monters. I’m likely admitting to how much of a geek I really am here but I thoroughly enjoyed that article.
Thank you.